The world's biggest sporting event continued its spread to new corners of the globe Thursday as Russia and Qatar were named as hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup soccer tournaments.
(See Pics)The fallout from the announcements in Zurich included a setback in soccer development for the United States, which lost its attempt to host the 2022 World Cup despite having an apparently superior technical bid. That tournament was awarded instead to Qatar, the oil-rich nation in the Persian Gulf, meaning the World Cup will make its inaugural appearance in the Middle East.
"We go to new lands," Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, the sport's world governing body, told Reuters. "Never has the World Cup been in Russia and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Arabic world has been waiting for a long time. So I'm a happy president when we talk about the development of football."
FIFA is an insular body, frequently criticized for its lack of transparency. Thursday's votes by FIFA's executive committee were conducted in secret. It was impossible to discern fully the motives of Blatter and his colleagues.
Some soccer officials believe Blatter is angling for a Nobel Peace Prize, having now orchestrated the awarding of the World Cup to South Africa in 2010, and soon to Russia and the Middle East, even if his chances of winning such an award might seem remote.
Surely, Thursday's votes reflected in part some murky internal FIFA politics. No doubt, too, Blatter has some sincere interest in taking his sport's grandest spectacle to all parts of the world.
The votes came amid recent news media accusations of corruption involving 6 of the 24 members of FIFA's executive committee. Two were barred from voting. Some observers called for a delay in the votes, saying their legitimacy had been compromised by accusations of vote selling.
American soccer officials had hoped to prevail for 2022 with a bid that promoted the country's diversity, the potential for record attendance and record profits for FIFA, and the fact that all stadiums and necessary infrastructure were already built.
But perhaps FIFA officials felt they had sufficiently assisted the United States by giving it the 1994 World Cup. And some observers felt that American bid officials lacked passion in explaining how a second World Cup would expand the game in the United States, which has not fully embraced the sport. FIFA had also expressed some concerns about a lack of federal government guarantees, one apparently having to do with its tax liability in the United States.
Eric Wynalda, a former star American forward and now a television commentator, suggested on Fox Soccer Channel that Qatar had in effect bought the World Cup in a triumph of money over merit. Perhaps he was referring to remarks in October by Michel Zen-Ruffinen, a former secretary general of FIFA, that Qatar was seeking to trade votes with the combined Spain/Portugal bid for 2018 to enhance both candidacies.
Sunil Gulati, president of the United States Soccer Federation, said in a conference call from Zurich: "Obviously, we're very disappointed with the outcome. We submitted what we think technically is a very good bid."
He then congratulated Qatar, which has never played in the World Cup, and declined to make accusations of corruption in the bidding process. Thursday's votes amounted to an election, Gulati said, adding: "This isn't only about technical reports. A lot goes into that. In this case, it was a new part of the world."
Qatar, with 1.7 million people, only 300,000 of whom are citizens, is the smallest nation to host a World Cup. But with one of the world's fastest-growing economies, it won with a bid that urged FIFA officials to make history as well as money. The success of the 2010 tournament, which was held in Africa for the first time, apparently further emboldened FIFA officials to continue to take its grandest spectacle to yet another part of the world, something that places soccer's vision far ahead of the Olympics.
"Thank you for believing in change," Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, told FIFA officials.
Others bidding for 2022 were Australia, Japan and South Korea.
The head of Qatar's winning bid, Sheik Mohammed bin Hamad al-Thani, suggested Wednesday that the World Cup would help improve the Arab image internationally, while assuaging anti-Islamic feeling that has grown since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
The 2022 World Cup will "present a new image of the Middle East -- far away from clichés and closer to reality," bin Hamad al-Thani said.
Qatar's bid overcame concerns about heat that can reach 120 degrees in the summer. Officials say they will build air-conditioned stadiums, spending $4 billion to upgrade three arenas and build nine new ones in a compact area connected by a subway system. Qatari officials have also said they will spend $50 billion on transportation and other infrastructure. After the 2022 World Cup, Qatar plans to dismantle its stadiums and give them to poorer countries.
Meanwhile, the United States has now lost successive bids to host a major international sporting event. Chicago lost its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, which were awarded to Rio de Janeiro. The World Cup bid failed even though it had support from President Obama and from former President Bill Clinton, who was honorary chairman of the bid committee.
When asked about Qatar's being awarding the 2002 tournament, Obama said, "I think it was the wrong decision," but he added that he was confident the United States team would acquit itself well wherever it played.
Vladimir V. Putin, Russia's prime minister, did not travel to Zurich before Thursday's votes, obliquely accusing England, a rival bidder for 2018, of trying to undermine the voting process. This was an apparent reference to news media reports emanating from London that accused some FIFA officials of being willing to sell their votes.
After Russia won the 2018 World Cup,Putin said he would travel to Zurich to thank FIFA. "This decision shows that Russia is trusted," he said as he left Moscow.
President Dmitri A. Medvedev, who typically enjoys gadgets more than sports, said in a Twitter message: "Hurray! Victory!"
Russia, which will also host the 2014 Winter Olympics, prevailed over England and joint bids by Spain/Portugal and the Netherlands/Belgium. Russia views the World Cup as a chance to help it continue to emerge from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Concerns about a lack of infrastructure and travel in the far-flung country were apparently ameliorated in the bidding process.
Russia proposed to host the tournament in 13 cities grouped in four clusters. And Putin has said that visitors will not need travel visas. Match tickets will apparently serve as visas, as they did when the 2008 Champions League final was held in Moscow.
"Yes, we don't have the right infrastructure yet," said Igor Shuvalov, the Russian first deputy prime minister, who led the delegation. "But we can overcome all difficulties. Let's create history together."
Coupled with Russian elation, however, was disappointment from the other candidate countries, particularly in England, which had gained renewed confidence over the last 24 hours that its bid might be successful after Prince William, Prime Minister David Cameron and David Beckham flew to Zurich for some last-minute lobbying.
"What a killer," said Duncan Townsend, manager of No. 1 Sports Bar in London's financial district, where crowds had gathered to watch the vote. "I was so looking forward to it. We have the passion and the infrastructure. It's a real shame."
In 1994, the United States hosted what is widely considered the most successful World Cup. Some 3.6 million fans attended the matches, still a record number. The 2022 World Cup bid projected that as many as five million tickets would be sold. Gulati also projected that $1 billion in corporate sponsorships might be available in the United States by then, along with $1 billion in television rights fees paid by English- and Spanish-language networks.
Gulati has also said that the cumulative American television audience for the 2022 World Cup could be 200 million, double the viewers who watched the 2010 World Cup from South Africa.
Officials of Major League Soccer, the North American professional league that just completed its 15th season, had hoped to gain enhanced visibility over the next 12 years as the 2022 World Cup approached. Officials in the soccer federation had also hoped to use the tournament to foster youth development in the inner cities.
It is too early to say whether the United States will bid on the 2026 World Cup, Gulati said. Soccer growth in the country will continue, he said, but lost Thursday was an opportunity for "putting a foot on the accelerator and taking a big jump."